Saturday 28 May 2016

Ceviche - My simplified version



I this video I am showing how I make my simplified version of ceviche.

Ceviche  is a seafood dish popular in the coastal regions of Latin America.

The dish is typically made from fresh raw fish cured in citrus juices, such as lemon or lime, and spiced with chili peppers. Additional seasonings, such as chopped onions, salt, and cilantro, may also be added.

I am putting and mixing together chopped fish, onions, parsley, chili and black pepper. After that I am pouring on lemon juice and mixing it for a couple of minutes until the juice soaks and then I am adding chopped avocado and extra virgin olive oil and again mixing it lightly. And last if you want to try it but you are not used to raw food you can add salt, which will greatly improve the taste and by the way is the main difference between the taste of raw and cooked meat.

See more in Wikipedia and my raw minced pork dish

Friday 27 May 2016

Meadow Buttercup (Ranunculus acris) possible mutation

I found this flower on 30 April 2016 while I've been hiking trough Lyulin Mountain in Bulgaria, at approximately at 1300 m (4300 ft) above see level in the outskirts of grass field bordering with forest, partially in shade. There were Meadow Buttercups (Ranunculus acris) nearby and while I am aware that there are cultivars and variations of the species with many petals, this one looked different. It may not be significant difference, but the petals were narrower then these of the cultivar "Multiplex" for example and also the flower didn't look so "packed" with petals, next the leafs where very deeply cut and sitting on long (more then 50% of the length of the flower stem) stems.

When I found it, I was unable to say nothing more then it looks like Meadow Buttercup, but at least I was able to appreciate that it is noticeably different and is in far too remote place to be simply escaped house plant or cultivar. Then I started looking for another one, but even after 6 hours of searching I couldn't find anything similar. Now there are three options of what it could be, first one and most likely is that I found either cultivar or hybrid that by some odd coincidence got in very remote place in the middle of the forest in that mountain, second possibility is that it as a rare naturally occurring mutation of the Meadow Buttercup and the third is that it is some closely related, but different and much less common species and that is why I can't find exact match in internet. The most exiting would be to happen that I stumbled across some new species, variety or at least mutation, but because we talk about Europe, where every stone was turned in the last several centuries by all kind of explorers and researchers, I know that this is very unlikely, but still who knows, it may have been missed somehow until now. Anyway, I'll keep researching the subject and if I find anything new, I'll post an update.
Growing at the outskirts of grass field and forest in partial shade
Close up, note the narrow petals
Close up of leaf, lower were sitting on very large stems and all were deeply cut
No visible or at least yellow coloured sepals
See also: Hiking through Lyulin Mountain

Thursday 26 May 2016

Adventure idea - Walk around the World

Some time ago I was thinking what is possibly the most amazing adventure I can imagine for myself. And my thought went along the following lines: so, there are many things I'd like very much to do, but one stands out. Its the idea of around the world travel on foot with minimum luggage and through places rarely or never visited or if visited not documented. One of the main reasons for this to be done could be to document and research places, people, flora and fauna, which will disappear soon and the knowledge about them will be lost forever.

I thought about that when I realised that the proverbial modern access to information is simply illusion. Everybody thinks that we have access to nearly all information that exists, however people are mixing quantity with quality. We do indeed can instantly get enormous amounts of information, but that information is about relatively small number of topics. To illustrate what I mean, just think how much information there is on internet about celebrities, sport, movies and compare that to how much we can find about the way of life of the native Americans before Columbus or indeed about these living until nowadays in the jungles of Amazonia. For example one of my projects is to reconstruct fully the way of life of the different groups of humans before the agricultural revolution (in my opinion it is the way of life for which we evolved, we are best adapted and the way of life most beneficial for our mental and physical health). So first I went to look for more information about the hunting techniques and what a surprise nobody bothered to even document how exactly bow is held and shot by the different tribes. There was rich information about certain topics, which were speciality of the particular researcher, but this method leaves enormous gaps in the knowledge. For example a researcher may not realise the importance of the weapon crafting techniques and to fully discard unique and mind blowing things as "well they have something like 3 feet long bows, crudely made". These "crude bows" and how they are used may happen to be actually the most important thing that need to be documented instead the description of some trinket produced by these people. So to avoid this problem I think we need to have more encyclopaedic approach, in sense the researcher needs to have enough knowledge in very wide range of fields so he'll be able at least to appreciate that certain things are important and have to be described and documented, even if he doesn't know enough to make proper research of the specific topic. Anyway, I strayed a bit from the topic. What I wanted to say is that out there is big world mostly unknown and disappearing and it is worth to go and gather  the information before its gone.

So, once we established the need these less known places, people and things to be found, seen and documented the next question is going to be: "How to get there?". Nowadays we have of course many options for travel, but the drawback for most of them is that they can get you only to places that are already often visited, by the virtue of being part of the global transport net and our only other option is to simply walk to the places we want to reach. And once we get our heads around the idea to abandon for most of the part the more conventional methods of transportation, we can start seeing the beauty of the idea to walk around the World. The walk itself is one of the most pleasant and beneficial for our physical and mental health activities that we can think of. In essence such a project is going to combine in one the useful with the pleasant.

So, these were my musings on the topic about the adventures and I thought to share them here.


Natural Running - basics


What I am saying in this video is that generally speaking we should try to run bare-feet, because of the many positive implications it brings to the health and the overall well-being. Also I am explaining the basics of the correct technique of the barefoot running. In short the idea is that we should run on the outer edge and forefeet, which is the more natural way of running as opposed to the heel first strike technique, common between the modern runners. Applying these ideas should improve our health and we'll avoid many injuries and deformities caused by shoes and unnatural running form.

See more:
Health benefits of walking and running barefoot
My thoughts about jogging
Wikipedia - Barefoot
Jogging
Wikipedia - Endurance running hypothesis

Wednesday 25 May 2016

Walk around London in the early December 2015

Back in the early December last year (2015) I decided to walk a bit through London, so I started from Leytonstone, went to Piccadilly Circus and then came back at the starting point. The distance was about 40 km (25 miles) and it took me 7 hours to cover it (average speed 5.8 km/h), but I feel that this is kind of limit for me and if I want to be comfortable and walk more hours I'll have to drop the walking speed to something like 5km/h (3.1m/h), which while far from what the athletes do its not really bad for a starter. On the bright side I didn't have any signs of tiredness or muscle fevers in the next days and this is when I decided to start preparing physically myself for long distance walks.

While walking I managed to snap few photos with my phone, which may be mildly interesting for people from other countries :).

Something interesting - "Public Baths", only I am not really sure its still operational
Parakeets (possibly Psittacula krameri) in Victoria Park. Even these fluffy balls of tropical colours look drab in London in this time of the year
Idyllic view of channel in London
Mildly interesting mix of modern and not so modern buldings
Kind of typical for London indie cafe. I like these very much, generally the ambient and the people are really nice.
Nearly forgot to mention it, my Vibram shoes. I decided if the weather is bad to do my walks with them and so far I find them exceptionally comfortable. I think I made by now something like few hundred km in this particular pair and it doesn't show any signs of wear and tier yet.
Wearing my vibram shoes.


Birch Sawfly (Cimbex femoratus) - 33 mm long wasp-like insect



In the today's post I'll put a short video and a few pictures about an Insect I found during my hike in Lyulin Mountain, Bulgaria. It looked like Birch Sawfly (Cimbex femoratus), but they are quoted as having length of maximum 25 mm (1 inch) and this one had body length without wings and antennae of 33 mm (1 1/4 inch), so it may happen to be another species, but I am unable to find more information.

The Sawflys are one of the two suborders in the Order Hymenoptera, the other one being this of the bees, ants and wasps. So this means that they are not only superficially resembling wasps or bees, but rather they look alike because they are distantly related and had common ancestor. Another interesting thing about them is that their larvae looks like butterfly caterpillar and just like them feeds on plants. This however makes some of the species of Sawflys pests that could cause substantial damage to certain plants.

Anyway, these huge wasp-like insects are always something interesting to be found in the wild.

The area where I found our beast
Birch Sawfly (Cimbex femoratus), it is a bit wasp-like
Side view of this very big Sawfly
One more picture from the side
Note the huge legs
It also has strong mandibles and the thorax is with particular shape
Here I have it measured, it had body length of 33 mm (1 1/4 inch) without wings and antennae 
Next to my finger

Tuesday 24 May 2016

Walk in the Garden of Turia - June, 2014 - Guest post

The Garden of Turia (Jardin del Turia) is unusual park in Valencia, Spain because it is the old riverbed of Turia river. After a The Great Flood of Valencia in 1957 the river was diverted and the dry riverbed is now a green oasis that crosses the city all the way to the port.
The Music Palace



This is a place for leisure and culture. You can have picnic with the whole family, or you can jog or play football. There are sport areas for everyone.







There are many bridges overhead.




Las Torres Serrano




The park keeps you away from the city noise thanks to it's low level.




At the end of the garden there's the Biopark, the city's new zoo. The place offers a beautiful view to the city.










Tent from single square tarp sheet, enclosed with floor for £2


After receiving e-mails and questions how exactly I configure and pitch up my single tent-cape I realized that it may not be so obvious, so I decided to upload this video in which I am showing to a friend of mine - Karen how to do it. I hope now is clearer how this is done.

In short, 2x2 m (6x6 ft) tarp (tarpaulin or any other waterproof and strong enough material cut at square), stick 1.2 m (or 4 ft), 3 pegs (or just sharpened pieces of wood) and piece of string 1.5 m long are used and the pitching up should take only a couple of minutes if practiced. It could be used as rain-cape (similar to the "plash palatka") or hammock, weights around 250 gr and is very compact and light compared to the retail tents.

And just to note in the video the sides don't align perfectly, because this tarp was not exactly a square and the eyelets were not evenly spaced, but its still good enough for £2 tent. However if anybody wishes to invest some time, it can be cut to proper size and the eyelets can be realigned and the result will be very neat fully enclosed tent.

This smaller configuration has some advantages like its easier to use as rain-cape, its a bit higher, so one can sit inside somewhat comfortably, uses single pole and needs smaller spaces. The disadvantages are that it is not so comfortable, higher (easier to be seen) and when used as hammock not very comfortable, because is shorter.

For exact proportions and folding geometry look at Single Tent Cape
For videos about the configuration of double tent see 2x3 Single Sheet Tent and 2x3 Tent - rain test

Monday 23 May 2016

Tent from single 2x3 tarp sheet, enclosed with floor for £2


After receiving e-mails and questions how exactly I configure and pitch up my double tent-cape I realized that it may not be so obvious, so I decided to upload this video in which I am showing to a friend of mine - Karen how to do it. I hope now is clearer how this is done.

In short, 2x3 m (6x9 ft) tarp (tarpaulin or any other waterproof and strong enough material cut with sides 2 by 3), 2 sticks at 1.2 m (or 4 ft) each, 2 pegs (or just sharpened pieces of wood) and piece of string are used and the pitching up should take only a couple of minutes if practiced. It could be used as rain-cape or hammock, weights around 350 gr and is very compact and light compared to the retail tents.

And just to note in the video the sides don't align perfectly, because this tarp was not with sides 2 by 3 exactly and the eyelets were not evenly spaced, but its still good enough for £2 tent. However if anybody wishes to invest some time, it can be cut to proper size and the eyelets can be realigned and the result will be very neat fully enclosed double tent.

For exact proportions and folding geometry look at New Tent Design
For my previous video about testing it in rain this tent see here.
And for a video about pitching up and configuration of the single tent see Single Tent Cape.

Sunday 22 May 2016

First impression of Gothenburg, Sweden - Guest post

Gothenburg, Sweden is one of my favourite places. I've been visiting it since 2008. That year I lived and worked there, and fell in love with the city.

The first thing that I noticed about Gothenburg is that it is so green when viewed from the air. An endless forest.

Despite being the second largest city in Sweden it gave me a feeling of a small town. There was an atmosphere of calmness and relaxation. It looked to me that road traffic almost didn't exist. That created the impression of eternal weekend. It was almost impossible to feel stressed there.

The main boulevard Avenyn, ''The Avenue''
This is how typical housing blocks in the city look like.



Interestingly sometimes there are no streets between the blocks. They are built on a hilly terrain. Like some giant just pined them up in the forest. I tried sometimes to walk to the city centre, but at some places it was very difficult to cross the terrain.


View from my window
View from my window
View from my window
Sometimes I could spot rabbits and deers through the window.
Because of the calmness and tranquillity, one thing that I could always had for sure was a good sleep.